Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-02-28
1--WE Become Impatient Under Small
Trials what are We to do When
Greater Trials Come?
The Slab of the Tomb Nothing but the
Milestone which Tells of Infinite
Distance Beyond.
Amid the Pleasures of Life We Rel ect
Christ aud when Misfortune
Comes We Repent.
spec.al to the Gazette.

Alter DTle1 exposition OF scripture by
the pastor, the Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage,
d. D., and the singing of hymn, Pro-
lessor Henry Eyre Browne rendered an
organ solo, Sonata Nc. in D minor, by
Guilmant. The subject of DR.. Talmage's
sermon was, "The Swelling of Jordan"
and his text jeremiah xii, .: "Tf thou
hast run with the footmen and they have
weaIied thee, then how canst thou con-
tend with horses? Ard il 10 the land of
peace, wherein thou trustedst, they
the swelling of Jordan" The eloquent
preacher said:
Not in petulant but in kindly terms l
must complain that wrong has been
done me, and the cause Of honest journal
ism, by q pretended sermon that is going
the rounds of hundreds OF papers with
my name appended, q sermon entitled:
- Frauds Detected;" text, Numbers,
xxi, %: "But if We will not do, SO,
behold, ye have sinned against the Lord;
and be sure your sin will find you cut"
Not one sentence of that pretended
sermon did preach. Ii this were the
only offense Of the kind | would not
speak of it. Such fraud is not only a
wrong to me but TO the gentlemen who,
at these tables, Sabbath by Sabbath, take
accurate report of what is said and done;
aad is gross wrong to the 1000 news
papers which give every week my sermon
in full TO their readers, ard often at great
expense to themselves. The only fault |
have to find with the news
paper press of this country
is, that thu treat me too we'll. But can
not be made responsible for entire ser
mons, not one word of which did preach!
But now turn from personal eXplana-
ton to the more important subject CT the
text.
Jeremiah had become impatient with
his troubles. God says to him: "If you
cannot stand these small trials and perse-
cutions, what are you going TO do when
the greater trials and prosecutions come:
If you have been running q race with foot
men and they have beaten you, what
chance is there that you will outrun
horses?" And then the figure is changed
You know, in April and May, the Jordan
overfOwS its banks, and the waters rush
violently on, sweeping everything before
them. And God says to the prophet: "If
you are overcome with smaller trials and
veXations, which have assaulted you, what
will you do when the trials and annoyance
and prosecutions of life come in fresh
et?" "If III the land of peace wherein
thou truStedst, they wesried thee, then
how wilt thou do in the swelling O. Jor-
dam"
propose, if God will help me. in q
very practical way to ask: If it is such 3
difficult thing to get along without the
religion of Jesus Christ, when things are
comparatively smooth, what will we do
without Christ amid the overpouripg mis-
fortunes and disasters of life that may
come upon US? If troub es, slow as foot
men, surpass Us, what will we do when
they take the feet of horses? and il now
in our life time we are beaten back and
submerged of sorrows because we have
not the religion of Jesus to comfort us,
what will we do when we stand in death
and we feel all around about US "the
swelling of Jordan" The fact that you
have come here, my brother, my sister,
shows that you have some things you be
lieve in common with myself. You
believe that there Is God.
There is not an Atheist in all this house
| do not believe there ever was real
Atheist in all the world. Napoleon was
on ships deck bound for Egypt. 1t
was bright starry night, and as he paced
the deck, thinking CT the great affairs of
the state aud of battle, he heard two men
on the deck in conversation about God :;
one saying there was q God and the other
saying there was none. Napoleon s'npped
and looked up at the starry heavens, and
then he turned to these men in converse
ton, and said: Gentlemen, | heard one
of you say there is no God: if there is no
God, Will you please TO tell me who made
all that" Aye, if you had not been per-
susded of it before, you sre persuaded of
it now; for the shining heavens declare
the glory of God and the earth shows His
hanGiwork. But You believe more than
that; you believe that there was Jesus;
you believe that there was a Cross; YOU
believe that you have an immortal soul;
you believe that ltmust be regeuersted by
the spirit Of God, or you can never
dwell IN bliss eternal. | think a great
many of you will say that you believe it is
important to lave the religion of Jesus
Christ every day of our life, to smooth
our tempers and purify our minds, and
hold US impertursble amid all the annoy
ance and veXations of life. You and
have seen SO many men trampled down
by misfortunes because they had no faith
in Jesus, and you say TO yourself: "If
they were so easily overcome by the
trials of life, what will it be when greater
misfortunes come upon them-heart-
breaking calamitles, tremendous griefs?"
oh, il We have no God to comfort US when
our fortune goes, and we look upon the
grave or our children, and our houses
are desolate, what will become of us?
What sad thing it is to see men all IN
helped of God, going out to fight giants
of trouble; no closet Of PRAYER
in which to retreat, no promise of mercy
to soothe the soul, no rock of refuge in
which to hide from the blast. Oh, when
the swift coursers Of trouble re brought
DIP, champing and painting foI the race,
and the reins are thrown upon their
necks, and the lathered tanks at every
spri1g feel the stroke of the lash, what
can we do on foot with them? How can
we compete with them? If, having run
with the footmen, they wearied US, how
can we contend with horses?
We have all yielded to temptation. We
have been surprised afterwards that so
small an inducement could have decoyed
US from the right. How Insignificant
foundation has sometimes caDtured orr